A Fonnigm in r*.w. i^urman
were to see Luristan dressed and shaved, long hair being
considered incompatible with a civilized appearance. To
procure a city suit in five days in the wilds of Luristan, is
a joke only fit for Punch or the Persian government: the
tribesmen gazed in unhappy perplexity while the policeman
expounded.
" Do you think the Ferangi clothes keep rain and snow out
as thoroughly as these felt coats?" I asked at last.
" Oh no," said the policeman.
" I should think the Pahlevi hat would not last long in this
climate either?"
" No time at all," the tribesmen said in chorus, with obvious
The policeman put down my water-bottle.
" It is an order from the Shah," he observed with dignity;
and suggested that it might be time to move on. The passes,
he explained, were not so dangerous as before lunch: he did
not think I need be escorted. If I used the water-bottle myself
he would not dream of depriving me: he had not seriously
thought of suggesting it. And would I tell the Governor
how pleased I was with his services?
So we went on, keeping the Gatchkah and its hills well on
our left, and making for the motor road, trodden, as far as
one could see, only by the hooves of innumerable donkeys
and mules. It is not yet completely finished, and the last
and safest part of it, where cars do run between Kermenshah
and Harsin, is apt to be raided now and then, and was so five
days before I got there. Out here in the wilderness it seemed
to sun itself in perfect peace, winding out of a rolling green
country for sheep which rose to bolder hills and jungle patches
in the south-western litde-known valleys of Dilfan. As we
rode through the quiet light of the afternoon, we saw no
trace of human beings except the heaps of stones by the road-